Inuit seek targeted strategy on World Suicide Prevention Day

The Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK) says the wheels are in motion for a national suicide prevention strategy that targets the high rate of suicide among Canada’s Inuit population.

On Tuesday, a crowd gathered at the steps of Parliament Hill to mark World Suicide Prevention Day — the seventh year the event has been held in Ottawa.

The event, organized by the Mental Health Commission of Canada, was attended by Conservative MP Harold Albrecht, who recently passed a private member’s bill to create a national suicide prevention framework. Albrecht was joined by the National Inuit Council, Assembly of First Nations Chief Shawn Atleo and ITK president Terry Audla, who said there’s reason for hope on an Inuit-focused national strategy.

“This year we are happy to say the wheels are turning,” he said.

The Nunavut government has its own strategy, created in 2010, but so far there’s nothing at the national level to tackle the growing problem that crosses provincial and territorial borders — work on Albrecht’s suicide prevention framework is just getting started and isn’t specifically geared towards the Inuit.

The overall rate of suicide in Canada has declined in the past few years, but in aboriginal populations it’s on the rise and sits at about twice that of the Canadian population. Numbers from the Canadian Mental Health Association put the suicide rate among the Inuit higher than other aboriginal populations — and 6 to 11 times higher that the general Canadian population.

“We need to recognize the uniqueness of Inuit communities,” Audla said. “Their shared history of collective and historical trauma, and the relationship between mental wellness and substance abuse.”

He added that suicide is largely preventable and that it is not a pre-determined genetic problem for Inuit people.

“Inuit are not predisposed by ethnicity to be at higher risk of suicide than non-Inuit. We were not a high-risk society in the past, and we do not have to be a high suicide rate society in the future. It doesn’t have to be this way,” he said.

A study from McGill‘s Douglas Mental Health University Institute this year took a look at causes of suicide among Inuit peoples in Canada. Physical and sexual childhood abuse, unemployment, alcohol abuse and mental health problems were all significant factors. The study noted the importance of its findings in determining where to allocate resources and prevent suicide in the future.

“We need to address a critical lack of infrastructure in Inuit communities and strengthen the continuum of mental health services, especially in relation to accessibility and appropriateness of care,” Audla said, adding that the determination of all players — governments and others — is needed to make change happen.

“Community engagement, strong communities, strong social programs help create strong individuals. And we know that the emotional well-being of children is critical to resilience and stability,” he said.

“And here’s something else we know: it’s going to take an enormous amount of work to make the kind of difference we all want to see.”

AFN National Chief Atleo said that empowering young people is an important step in preventing this very recent phenomenon for aboriginal people in Canada.

“We don’t have memory of our people taking their lives. We have no words that can describe this new phenomenon that’s washed across our respective territories as indigenous peoples,” he said.

“This new phenomenon requires strategies that reflect this new reality, and that’s why we’re here.”

Harold Albrecht, Conservative MP for the riding of Kicthener-Conestoga, addressed the crowd on Parliament Hill as well, noting that the Mental Health Commission of Canada and the Health Agency of Canada are working in conjunction to create a federal framework.

He added that the Mental Health Commission has chosen suicide as one of its five priority programs for the rest of its mandate.